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The London-born Ghanaian believes hard work during training will earn him another starting role in the last-four game against the Nations Cup hosts Thursday.

Ghana striker Kwesi Appiah is hoping to keep his spot in Avram Grant’s starting 11 in the semi-final of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations against Equatorial Guinea.

The Crystal Palace on-loan striker started his first competitive game for the Black Stars against Guinea on Sunday, and repayed the confidence reposed in him by Avram Grant with a brilliant performance coupled with a goal to help the four-time African champions beat Guinea 3-0 in the quarter-final.

He is now hoping to start again in the semi-final Thursday.

“It is absolutely fantastic to get off the mark on a competitive game for Ghana,” the 24-year-old told Accra-based Joy FM. “Is massive for me and I'm delighted with the performance and the victory.”

On whether he was worried of not playing, Appiah said, “I appreciate that is a team and everybody has got their bit to give and hopefully, I did that today. We've got few days to train and hopefully I can do my best in the training sessions to keep my spot in the team.”

Appiah also said the team is taking a game at a time, and not thinking of the final.

“There are two more games to decide the winner, so the most important one is the next game and that's what we’ll be focused on.”

Ghana will play tournament hosts Equatorial Guinea on Thursday evening as they seek to end a 33-year wait for the trophy.